A Thousand Miles

Murcielago

****

Murcielago is an Action Horror Seinen manga by Yoshimurakana. It began serialization in Young Gangan magazine in April 2013. Yen plus has been responsible for the English localization (presently 18 of 20 volumes) since 2017. It has also spawned a spinoff, Murcielago: Byproduct Arana, focusing on Reiko, one of the characters we meet this volume.

Cover Appeal

Murcielago – Some may likely recognize Murcielago as a model of Lamborghini. Others, may recognize it as a revered name in bullfighting. Neither is incorrect and the relationship between the two may be a little surprising for those not in the know. The Lamborghini Murcielago is a sports car produced between 2002 and 2010. This distinctive 2 door coupe gets its namesake from that of the Navarra bull that fought Rafael Molina Sanchez in 1879. Apparently, it fought so ferociously, many cheered for it to be spared – an honor it ultimately received. Ferucci Lamborghini, Lamborghini Automotive’s founder, loved bullfighting (seriously, look at the logo) and his passion inspired the decision to name the car after it. In this context, the term pulls double duty: Kuroko’s main ride is indeed a Murcielago, but it also pertains to her employment situation. Kuroko can be
seen as a bull, of sorts, in that she “performed well enough” to be pardoned. There’s probably also something in there about pardoned bulls being returned to their ranch to become “seed bulls” and Kuroko returning home to enthusiastically reenact her own version of that. However, she can also be seen as the bullfighter as she constantly is pitted against an opponent that has a marked advantage over her, that she must outmaneuver.

Tools of The Trade – I commend Murcielago for NOT doing a direct interplay of sex and violence everywhere else, but I’m not complaining here. She’s holding a gun to the breast of the mangled torso of a gagged and blindfolded doll – a connection explicit enough it can’t be ignored. Beyond that, you get smaller trinkets such a pair of knives, a box of Yuri DVDS and one of those love answer pillow things – on the “YES” side…..OBVIOUSLY. They all come together to create a nice glamour shot of Kuroko with several of her tools for slaying (*wink*wink*) – all a homage to her two big passions, sex and violence.

The Gist

Kuroko Koumori is a mass murderer. When the other shoe inevitably drops and the time to pay the piper comes due, she’s resigned herself to her fate. Fate, however, doesn’t oblige – instead of execution, she’s offered a proposition: Do what you did indiscriminately in a discriminately. In other words, kill other killers and you get to go free. Kuroko jumps at the chance, but just what kind of threats are waiting out there for her?

The Cast

Kuroko Koumori – Serial killer, and ladies woman, turned police asset. Whenever some ultra violent threat rears its head, they call Kuroko to intervene.

Hinako Tozakura – Kuroko’s assistant. Normally handles the driving and itinerary. Considering what we learn about their meeting in the extra pilot, she is, lowkey, a handler for Kuroko.

Tsuru & Kimihara – The two detectives who, despite having no direct authority over Kuroko and Hinako, interrogate them multiple times this volume. With completely opposite amounts of experience with our duo, Tsuru has seen some of Kuroko’s sanctioned….work and knows she is connected to higher ups while Kuroko, lacking both, runs herself ragged trying to get answers out of them.

The Rub

Murcielago’s main character isn’t a hard sell. A sexy killer lady that’s also a lady killer. Kuroko’s gonna do a killing in your city – then she’s gonna scoop up your lady and kill the kitty. Can’t see any appeal in a character like that, AT ALL.

Neither is its premise. These killings are at the behest of the police to deal with violent threats to the public. State sanctioned wetwork to keep the peace? We are just DARING today, aren’t we?

Sarcasm aside, if there’s anything that Murcielago had to sell me on, it’s that watching this shoo-in of a character cradling this lay-up of a premise is going to be fun. Or, crudely put – EXECUTION. I want to see how her history informs her present killing chops, demeanor and sensibilities.

In this regard, Murcielago didn’t exactly make things the easiest for itself with its decision to have a roided up musclebound wrestler as Kuroko’s first assignment. I think it turned out alright, all things considered. The wrestler, from their oversized physique to their superhuman strength, might as well be a Baki character. Hinako, her assistant, drives Kuroko’s car with the reckless abandon of a Fast & Furious driver. Kuroko herself, though, stays rather grounded. Sure, she gets in on the humor schtick with Hinako by pulling a couple of items (one being a ring side bell) out of her cleavage, but her fighting is grounded. She elects for straightforward leg sweeps, hitting her opponents in the face with rocks and even carries a pair of Desert Eagles. These can be chambered in multiple calibers (of which, all are magnum rounds), so they’re pretty beefy weapons. To these ends, I found myself pleasantly surprised with how efficiently simple her solution to the wrestler is.

Kuroko hasn’t displayed any supernatural powers, but that’s fine right now because it allows Kuroko to function as a grounded rejection of the extremes that her antagonists present. Whether it’s raw strength, unbridled bloodlust or opportunistic maliciousness, our protagonist outthinks and outperforms despite her foe’s specific advantages. You know, “Overspecialize and you breed in weakness”….or whatever that Motoko lady said.

I think I calibrated my expectations for Murcielago reasonably well – I expected sex and violence to rub up against each other like a couple of flustered, but grateful, commuters on a packed subway train. Murcielago IS casually salacious and gory – but there’s no interplay of sex and violence, like early Witchblade. It’s this, daresay, restraint that undergirds the story. Sex and violence are things Kuroko is VERY familiar with, but while her base desires may be simple, she never indulges them to the point of excess – and thus to her own detriment. She is refined in a way that the killers she fights aren’t, ensuring her continued success. But there’s also the small reminders that our dear Kuroko is still twisted in her own ways – even a bit literally. It’s her wide, yet nearly empty eyes, the neck she periodically lets hang as though broken… even her expressions (the “Now Loading” one comes to mind). One of my favorites comes early on during the first case involving its mystery drug. One panel is a normal view of Kuroko holding a bag of the drugs. The one that follows is a smaller, horizontal panel with her head in said signature position – as if she’s aware of the change in perspective and is contorting herself to intrude into and fill it. It all gives the impression that there is a dark potential that Kuroko hasn’t wrought yet.

In Conclusion

Murcielago does exactly what it needed to do: a workable premise carried by an interesting enough character. The “Evil vs Evil” premise easily facilitates all of the action you could ever want and Kuroko (with her big “Rip Van Winkle, but without all the Nazism” vibes), not only fits right in, but brings with her the anticipation of a deeper depravity. Whether that’s a change in demeanor, a new set of abilities or even a recontextualization of the character as we knew her – it’s a welcome mystery.

Continue?: Sure, why not?